If you could have anything you wanted during this holiday season, what would it be? You don't have to answer, but I realize this is a much harder question than appears. For example, should one be global and ask for world peace? If not careful with the words, we could have world peace 'break out' now, only to have wars return in a week. How about an end to poverty, unemployment, illness, racism, sexism, etc? Better education? Better airlines? Warmer weather? Cooler weather? More fun at work? It becomes pretty obvious that what we might wish for has a lot to do with how we view things -- and sometimes that view is influenced by what is going on at the moment.
More fun at work? This thought has consumed me for the past few weeks. If I could have anything work-related, during this holiday season, it would be for more fun at work. Why? Because for me, the times that I view work as fun are the times when I truly feel I am clicking on all cylinders, making great progress, appropriately connecting with co-workers and getting things done! When those attributes are a part of my day, work does not feel like work, but like fun. It then does not matter how many evening meetings are part of the work day or how many times I have to reschedule a hair appointment to complete an assignment -- because it seems like fun. It is when those attributes are missing that work seems like, well work. And, even worse, it is when work feels like a chore.
Some have heard me say that I believe work needs to be enjoyable most of the time because it is where we spend the majority of our waking hours. When work is not enjoyable, other parts of your life can suffer. Have you ever had a really bad day at work impact the really great concert you had been looking forward to attending for months? While I am somewhat pollyanic, I do realize that not every working day can be sunshine and lollipops -- then it wouldn't be called work. But I do believe that the really good days have to outweigh the really bad days in order to ensure we are all working at the right place at the right time.
So, my work-related holiday wish, is that we can find the fun in work. Sometimes that fun is formal (like our recent scavenger hunt). However, for the fun to be sustainable and to be of benefit to our co-workers (and yes, they can tell when work is not fun for us) and our organization (so that we are doing our best work), that fun needs to be more ingrained in our regular work days. Rather than just wish, I would love to have suggestions/recommendations on how this can be accomplished in the part of the organization that I lead. I encourage you to share those suggestions either in this forum or by e-mailing me directly. Can't wait to hear from you.
J
